Tea Combat

A master of the tea ceremony in old Japan
once accidentally slighted a soldier. He quickly apologized, but
the rather impetuous soldier demanded that the matter be settled
in a sword duel. The tea master, who had no experience with
swords, asked the advice of a fellow Zen master who did possess
such skill. As he was served by his friend, the Zen swordsman
could not help but notice how the tea master performed his art
with perfect concentration and tranquility. "Tomorrow,"
the Zen swordsman said, "when you duel the soldier, hold
your weapon above your head, as if ready to strike, and face him
with the same concentration and tranquility with which you
perform the tea ceremony." The next
day, at the appointed time and place for the duel, the tea master
followed this advice. The soldier, readying himself to strike,
stared for a long time into the fully attentive but calm face of
the tea master. Finally, the soldier lowered his sword,
apologized for his arrogance, and left without a blow being
struck.

Readers Write
Back!

One of our dear readers offers a perspective on his insights
as a long time practitioner of Zen, Dzogchen to be precise. He
has been a vocal critique of these pages from time to time. Which
is to say that I don't really mind him asking me where I find all
that 'crap' as I ponderously fumble my way through yet another
edition. After exchanging several to the point
letters with Mr. McHugh I have decided that his wit and
wisdom and straight talk was much better than the crap I usually
find. Not one to overlook a goldmine, I sincerely recommend the
following by Earl McHugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many of us devote large chunks of life to
seeking "enlightenment " "
liberation" " peace of mind" "
freedom" or whatever we may choose to call it. We pursue
this goal by reading, meditating, and following
various teachers, like Maharishi Maharesh,
Bhagvan Shri Rajneesh or Da Free John. Some adopt faiths strange
to most Westerners, involving dedication, worship and adherence
to teachings which primarily originated in Asia.

What are we seeking? It seems to me that the search we
engage in so avidly is largely a groping for some imaginary state
of psychological well-being that will insulate us from the
ordinary torments of human existence. The Buddha, for
example, proposed a system to deliver us from "
suffering". Buddhism has many fine points, particularly as a
psychology, but upon close inspection it develops that for most
people the promised deliverance may be a number of
lifetimes away.
It seems, however, that the Buddha was able to penetrate
the secret of enlightenment ( after only six years of meditation
) by actually looking into his own mind. Since he had
supposedly lived many,many previous lives as a
Buddha it does seem a little odd that his journey took him
so long.
What the Buddha did any one of you can do on your own, without
any guru, prostrations, or self-denying practices. And it
need not take six years. In fact, within the ordinary mind of
every sane and sound person there is a key to the
freedom we seek.
It takes only a relaxed, sincere and open look into your mind.
The important quality of clear, unobstructed awareness is
available to everyone. When you do simply relax and look, you can
clearly discern that you mind is free when you don't cling to any
idea or set of ideas or beliefs.
That is not really as easy as it sounds, but it is within the
reach of every one of us. You don't have to " kill the ego
" or deny that you exist or believe that the world is just a
dream. When you do take time to look into your mind you may be
appalled, at first, by why you find there since our minds are
restless, ever-moving flows cluttered by all sorts of dross. You
have to have the will and the patience to look through that stuff
to see into the basic clarity that is there.
Once
you reach that clarity you will appreciate and understand that
freedom is our basic condition. It is not some reward that
is to be conferred by some religion nor a remote prize that can
be won only by spending a number of years on a cushion, reciting
mantras, prayers or incantations of any sort.
After your first " aha " experience of clarity it
seems advisable to pay attention to your clear awareness on a
daily basis if you wish to expand the influence of freedom
in your life. This path of freedom won't make you sexy, rich or
even wise. It may, however, enable you to be a more fulfilled
person better able to deal realistically with the
problems that go with being human.
It seems likely that some readers will sneer at these
thoughts because it sounds just too simple. In fact, many ancient
Zen masters and some teachers in other traditions have taught the
power of simply seeing with naked, untainted awareness. A
basic Dzogchen text by Padmasambhava sums up the teaching neatly
in its title, in English, " Self-Liberation through Seeing
with Naked Awareness."
I must hasten to
say that I did not stumble into this insight on my own. I
meditated for a number of years following the teaching of
"mindfulness " of the Theravadins. Then, I was
fortunate to attend a Dzogchen retreat where the great
benefit derived from simply looking into the depths
of our own minds became clear to me. I never did become a
"Buddhist."

Most of us want a technique to follow or some authority to study.
I would suggest the writings of Peter Fenner. Three of his
books, Intrinsic Wisdom, Wisdom Teachings and The
Edge of Certainty are available in paperback. Peter also
teaches in many places ( he is a professor in Australia )
and offers a two or three day seminar in which you can
readily learn and practice familiarity with your own freedom of
mind. You don't even have to worship Fenner or join a cult.
I have read writings by some of the fine teachers
whose work is exposed on the Nonduality site which are similar to
Fenner's. However, I have not met or heard any of them
teach, as I have with Peter, so I cannot personally endorse
them. Some of the most popular writers, like Eckhard Tolle ( The
Power of Now ) seem to wind up teaching slavish adherence
to some magical state - like clinging to "Now" -
whatever that is.
The best thing about Peter Fenner's teaching is that he clarifies
the fact that no attachments work. Like an ancient Zen master, he
stresses that nothing is to be clung to- no beliefs, no teaching,
no magical state, no enlightenment, no deliverance, no saintly
state, etc. etc. Only by living freely can one be free.

To practice Zen and the art of Jewish motorcycle
maintenance, do the following:
Get rid of the motorcycle.
what were you thinking?

GenerationJ: What do you think accounts for the trend
of many Jews looking towards Buddhism for spiritual development
and direction?

David Bader: Well, for one thing, people who practice
Zen seem so calm! It's inevitable that Jewish people would ask,
"How can I be like that without a prescription?" More
seriously, Jews have always been seekers and intellectual
explorers and are interested in alternative approaches to
spirituality, whether through Kabbalah, Eastern religions, or
something else. Perhaps there's a feeling that, while Judaism is
a perfectly nice religion, for ultimate truth, Enlightenment, and
insight into the meaning of life, something more exotic is
required.

It was a time of great and exalting excitement.
The country was up in arms, the war was on,
in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism;
the drums were beating, the bands playing,
the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers
hissing and spluttering;
on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread
of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags
flashed in the sun;
daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue
gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers
and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices
choked with happy emotion as they swung by;
nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot
oratory
which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts
and which they interrupted at briefest intervals
with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks
the while;
in the churches the pastors preached devotion to the flag and
country
and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good
cause
in outpouring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.
It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half-dozen rash
spirits
that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its
righteousness
straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their
personal safety's sake
they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that
way.

Sunday morning came--
next day the battalions would leave for the front;
the church was filled;
the volunteers were there, their young faces
alight with martial dreams--
visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum,
the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe,
the tumult,
the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender!--
then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored,
submerged in golden seas of glory!
With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied
by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers
to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag or
failing,
die the noblest of noble deaths.

The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was
read;
the first prayer was said;
it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building,
and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and
beating hearts,
and poured out that tremendous invocation--
God the all-terrible!
Thou who ordainest,
Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!
Then came the "long" prayer.
None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading
and moving and beautiful language.
The burden of its supplication was that an ever-merciful and
benignant
Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers
and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work;
bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of
peril,
bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident,
invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe,
grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor
and glory--

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step
up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister,
his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his
head bare,
his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders,
his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness.
With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent
way;
without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side
and stood there, waiting. With shut lids the preacher,
unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer,
and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent
appeal,
"Bless our arm, grant us the victory, O Lord our God,
Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside--
which the startled minister did-- and took his place.
During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience
with solemn eyes in which burned an uncanny light;
then in a deep voice he said:
"I come from the Throne-- bearing a message from Almighty
God!"
The words smote the house with a shock;if the stranger perceived
it he gave no attention.
"He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd and
will grant it
if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have
explained to you its import--
that is to say, its full import.
For it is like unto many of the prayers of men,
in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of--
except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he
paused and taken thought?
Is it one prayer? No, it is two-- one uttered, the other not.
Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications,
the spoken and the unspoken.
Ponder this--keep it in mind.
If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware!
lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the
same time.
If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs
it,
by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some
neighbor's crop
which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
"You have heard your servant's prayer-- the uttered part of
it.
I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it--
that part which the pastor,
and also you in your hearts, fervently prayed silently. An
ignorantly and unthinkingly?
God grant that it was so! You heard these words:
'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!'
That is sufficient.
The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant
words.
Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory
you have prayed for
many unmentioned results which follow victory--must follow it,
cannot help but follow it.
Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the
unspoken part of the prayer.
He commandeth me to put it into words:

LISTEN!
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts,
go forth to battle--
be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from
the sweet peace
of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds
with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the
pale forms
of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the
guns with the shrieks of their wounded,
writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a
hurricane of fire; help us
to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing
grief; help us to turn them out roofless
with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of
their desolated land in rags and hunger
and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds
of winter, broken in spirit,
worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and
denied it-- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their
hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make
heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the
white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of
Love, and Who is the ever-faithful
refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid
with humble and contrite hearts.
AMEN.

after a pause:
"Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak!
The messenger of the Most High waits."

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic,
because there was no sense in what he said...

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

"Political
activism is seductive because it seems to offer the
possibility that one can improve society, make things better,
without going through the personal ordeal of rearranging one's
perceptions and transforming one's self." -Tom Robbins